United PCS

a need for structural change

Below are faculty statements to the PCS Board of Directors. Read about the issues we are facing.

Jennifer Eskenazi, math teacher

Before becoming a teacher I worked as a management consultant and in corporate strategy, helping companies make difficult financial decisions. I know you all have had to make many difficult financial decisions.

It is said that the true values of an organization are communicated through their budgets. (The finance world's way of saying, you have to put your money where your mouth is). The state of California has communicated that schools are a priority with historic levels of ongoing funding. They have increased the lcff base by 6.7% and the COLA by 6.56%. These are increases that will carry over from year to year.

Most teachers cannot afford to work at PCS with our current salary scale, and those that can are making a financial sacrifice. We have asked for a change to step increases but we have been told that this is not a time for structural change. If this is not the time, I really do not know when it will be. Many changes have been thrust upon teachers over the last few years and we have been very flexible and accommodating. The state recognizes the changing times with their budget. We understand that the board is fiscally conservative and we appreciate your commitment to the financial health of the school. The faculty is also committed to the financial health of the school and has been bearing the burden of the school’s financial health for a long time. To retain the best faculty we need to pay enough for the teachers’ financial health too. The fact that we’ve lost over 30% of our faculty in the last year demonstrates that minimal and seemingly arbitrary cost of living increases really aren’t working.

…

As it becomes more difficult for teachers to work at PCS it becomes harder to recruit and retain the best faculty and we certainly cannot meet our strategic DEI goals by under-paying teachers. For this reason I urge you to reconsider the step increase model we proposed or propose another way to bring wages more in line with the cost of living in this town. .

If the school is based on a sustainable model then we really should be able to pay teachers a fair living wage.

Statement to the PCS Board, November 2022

Mary Gardner, Latin & History teacher

As a school, we acutely felt the impact of teacher burnout and wage deflation when so many of our colleagues did not return this fall. Those of us who did return did so with sadness at this loss and anxiety about what the new school year would look like; one colleague remarked to me, “it feels like I’m starting work at a totally new school.” I have heard these sentiments echoed repeatedly by our students.

These issues I’ve brought up may stem from broader structural problems, and finding solutions may be challenging, but that is the reality of working in education…School employees adapt and persist through all kinds of challenges because we believe in our work and we love our students. We are asking you, our board of directors, to adapt and persist and commit to the people who do this work; who, day by day, enact the vision and mission of this extraordinary school. The decisions you make over the next few weeks will have a substantial material impact on teachers' lives and working conditions and will therefore have a profound impact on our entire PCS community. Schools are not zero-sum spreadsheets; they are human ecosystems. We all have to mutually depend on and care for each other, because what affects one of us affects all of us.

Statement to the PCS Board, October 2022

Andy Gersh, Math teacher

I stand before you today, 3 months into my 19th year of teaching. That’s not including my first career as an environmental educator, which sowed the seed for this path that I’m now on. With the exception of taking parental leave when my two kids were born, I’ve taught full time every year. At my current salary, I make about $12,000 less than I did at my last school where I taught 4 years ago. I make about $25,000 less than I would if was working at other public high schools in Santa Cruz. My current paycheck covers monthly childcare costs, which depending on the month are between 2500 and 3000 dollars. The remainder of the paycheck gets split between my portion for groceries and housing cost. I make a contribution to my savings about once every 3 months. As much as I love PCS, every pay period I’m left wondering “do I love it enough to be this stressed about finances every month? Do I love it more than I would an additional an $25,000 per year?”

As a nationally ranked high school that has a strategic plan of hiring and retaining a diverse and highly qualified teaching staff, how do you plan on retaining experienced teachers? If our vision for PCS is to have more diverse student body, one that represents potential rather than privilege, how do you plan on retaining the highly qualified teachers needed to support these students and help them thrive as life long learners?

 Statement to the PCS Board, November 2022

heather calame, music teacher

Many of us lovingly set aside or threw out our wildest dreams when we decided to teach. Signing up for a credential program, a masters maybe, and deciding that teaching was the path for us means signing up for teacher wages. We gave up a lot of dreams to become teachers. For some of us, it’s a sports car. For some of us, it’s family planning. For some of us, it’s becoming a homeowner. And given the rates of inflation and the cost of living in Santa Cruz, for many of us, we’re giving up the dreams of getting out of debt.

PCS is not losing people to other fields. PCS is losing teachers to OTHER TEACHING JOBS. We are not paying competitive wages and we are losing teachers to other schools. We need to show that we value our teachers as much as we value the work they do. We know exactly how important education is. That’s why we are all in this room together. That’s why you’re sitting on this board. So why are we allowing THE LITERAL BEST TEACHERS IN THE COUNTY to leave and teach in other places when they’d rather stay? Every year teachers come to board meetings and BEG the board to make changes because what we offer is not sustainable or competitive. They say they want to stay, but can’t afford to and will make more money doing the same job literally anywhere else. 

I would like to see the board make a commitment to this school, its students, and its teachers by stopping this cycle. Pledge that we will no longer be the “catch and release” school for excellent teachers. We should not be a training ground for good teachers just so the rest of the bay area can benefit.

I am excited about our excellent new staff and I hope you will keep their careers in mind as you consider what teachers at PCS are worth. I hope we develop these teachers into even bigger rock stars and I hope that if they should ever leave PCS that it’s for any reason other than to make money teaching somewhere else. 

Let’s stop losing teachers to other schools. We already gave up on our wildest dreams, let’s not give up on our teachers too.